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I am a mother, a grandmother, and a teacher. But whatever happens in my life, I keep sewing. I have worked as a political communicator and now as a teacher in my formal life. I have also written extensively on sewing. I have been a frequent contributor and contributing editor of Threads magazine and the Australian magazine Dressmaking with Stitches. My book Sew.. the garment-making book of knowledge was published in May 2018 and is available for pre-order from Amazon
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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Old town Knoxville Tennessee and Style Arc's Annie's Cami










We had a beautiful walk today and really enjoyed the old part of Knoxville.


Later I called on my walking partners, the one who can hold a camera in particular, to take a picture of my fitting muslin of Annie's Cami.


My first version was not so successful, partly I am sure to my own attempts to move the centre part of the neckline in a bit to accommodate my scrawny neckline.


As you can see Edition one (despite my huge success with my Sacha shirt) had darts that were too low and trouble fitting over my enormous bustline (?). Too bad because I was quite pleased with the neckline binding which I did exactly like the knit binding described earlier in my post about the Adele top.


BTW I have a real trick for making your neckline binding lie nice and non ripply around the neck, and pull it in just the right little bit so it won't ever gape.


OK, here is the hint:


1. Cut the binding on the bias. Natch.
2. Take it to the ironing board and pull on it hard while you iron, stretching the whole piece as much as you can, which removes the stretch and actually narrows the binding a far bit too.
3. Then fold the binding in half, wrong sides together, and press.
4. Pin and stitch to the wrong side of the neckline.
5. Flip to the right side and topstitch along the folded edge, close to the edge.


Here is what it looks like in an otherwise failure top:



Finished binding wrong side


Finished binding right side


And here are the fitting issues:


Shocking bust dart accentuated by pink House Bra, which might explain why I am totally off centre.

Too harassed to deal with the hair, after all I am sewing in a hotel room with the ironing board in the bathroom. See the tightness over the pink House Bra. Neckline and shoulder great, so I Did Not Give Up.

Next version done in crappo polyester, little bit of cotton, gingham from Jo-Ann's. FBA added, dart lowered, great neckline still there.


Peta pants cut down into shorts, knees brought to you by 58 years, wind, stiff fabric and photographer issues (why does he keep taking shots that make my stomach look big? I want to know) making this look more like a maternity top than it should.

You many not be, but I am really happy with this top now, although I note again that Style Arc makes long shirts when they call it a tunic, I added my usual 2" and will take it off next time.

I now consider myself to have a good TNT shell, a very useful, never to go out of style unit. Although I will be making future versions in:

1. Good quality fabric
2. Fabric that drapes, silk? Soft linen.

Worth the trouble don't you think?


8 comments:

a little sewing said...

That turned out really well! I had the same problem with the dart too high & needed FBA, plus on me the shoulders weren't wonderful, either. I gave up and put it away, but it is such a cute tunic.

You look great! Knees look great, stomach looks great! Don't know what you are talking about!!

Karin said...

I thought the first one really wasn't bad, but the second one is even better. What a great basic top to make again and again out of different fabrics for summer.

Miasews said...

Excellent job. Thanks for the tip about binding. I really like the neckline on that top!

SewRuthie said...

Yes definitely worth the trouble getting the TNT.

Dinah said...

Thank you for the tip on the binding! I will definitely use it. BTW, my daughter and I take summer vacations together each year and randomly pick a location. We chose the Tennessee area you are in a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. We found a self-guided driving tour of Knoxville civil war sites. Here's a link in case you are interested: http://www.discoveret.org/kcwrt/sites/sd-text.htm

-Dinah

LinB said...

I'd salvage the white one, myself, by unpicking the dart to the side seam, and re-sewing it with a lowered bust point. Or, you could unpick the whole thing and turn the extra room at the side seam into gathers. That works well for summer tops for me. Why do I not remember to lower the bust point when I make a blouse ... suffering from CRS, I guess.

Bunny said...

Congrats on a new TNT! This would be lovely in linen.

Belinda said...

Love the look! It's great to have as many tnt's as possible.